Taiwan researchers find link between obesity and arterial stiffness

Taiwan based National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has found that obesity accelerates aortic aging and stiffness

The next step in research is to tackle the issue of treatment, says researcher

Singapore: According to a recent research at Taiwan based National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), obesity leads to a reduction in the protein lysyl oxidase (LOX) which accelerates aortic aging and stiffness, causing arteriosclerosis, and is a major threat to health.

Professor Yau-Sheng Tsai of the NCKU Institute of Clinical Medicine led the team to investigate the pathophysiological link between arteriosclerosis and obesity.

Through experimentation, the team found that obesity leads to a decrease in LOX expression, which subsequently reduces elastic fiber strength and the level of cross-linkage. Consequently, it increases elastin fragmentation and elastolytic activity.

It was also noted that the aortas of obese mice were surrounded by a significant amount of pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidative perivascular adipose tissue.

In vitro studies revealed that the conditioned medium from differentiated adipocytes or the perivascular adipose tissue of obese mice decreases LOX activity.